Before the Black Wind Howls
by divinedisorder
Summary: Feelings of losing all hope is the hardest to describe. A Magus story about his past, focused more on the emotions than the plot. (Sorry, I had to erase then repost.)
1. The Boy

Before the Black Wind Howls

Chapter One: The Boy

By Janis

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Old, old, OLD fanfic that I don't know if I'll ever finish. This one is my baby, I still get compliments about it. However it's not quite as a good Magus/Janus' past story compared to the others that have come out. But I do believe this is one of the first. When I was writing this I was more compelled to find the personality of Janus and not the story pre-say so current this is incomeplete and don't know if I'll finsh it. I got a writer's block. *whines*

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_New blood joins this earth_

_And quickly he's subdued_

_Through constant pain disgrace_

_The young boy learns their rules...._

**_Unforgiven by Metallica_**

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I was a child once.

We all are innocent and pure when we are born according to what most people think. I very much doubt   
that little white lie. If we are all born innocent and pure then how come we kill one another? If we are all   
born innocent since the beginning of time then why would we know the pain or hate? How come some of   
our goals in our lives must hurt others? If we are all born pure then how come we are so tainted with blood   
and lies? We all have two sides and it seems to me that people tend to forget children have two sides. They   
all assume they are pure goodness and light and forget the dark sides. Forgetting tiny things like that are for   
the weak. They cannot understand it and they refuse to understand their darkness. It's not evil, it won't bite,   
and it's just darkness. Live with it. I have accepted my darkness and treasured it. I used it to my advantage to   
my goal to find the thing I hated the most, my magic. I lived in the darkness so I could survive using it's   
magic. Ironic because I've always hated magic. Even as a child magic meant nothing to me.

My older sister felt almost the same disregard as I did. But of course Schala was blessed with Shadow magic   
when I was apparently crippled in it. Schala wasn't made for that type of magic. It was too brooding and dark   
for such a gentle spirit. Shadow magic is choking, hungry, lustful and heartless and it simply did not apply   
for my sister. She was beautiful, graceful girl with long shimmering blue hair and gentle green eyes and a   
kind smile. But it was more than her beauty that attracted her to other people. It was the caring heart, the   
gentle words and the promise of hope she always had. She was the last of the rare innocents. Schala was   
eternal optimist shimming with love, the perfect child that I agreed with no spite. She was everything when I   
was a child, my sister, my mother, and my only friend. She was my beacon of hope for the future when I   
became an adult.

I was the opposite of her. I was a small, frail, pail, and skinny child with a dark awkward way of speaking   
that always was tinged with sarcasm. My hair was a darker blue with brown irises before discovering my   
channel of magic. My nose was a little too long and I always frowned. I only smiled and laughed around   
Schala. I seemingly had no power of magic within me. The Guru of Life knew my worth. I think Schala did   
too.

At the very least I know that both knew that I hated magic and deemed it useless. I couldn't care less if I   
learned magic or not. However the world had more to say to the matter than I did. I knew the reason people   
where cold and dark to me was I had no magical powers that you could see with the blind eye. This aura of   
anger and ignorance would soon fall and drag down Zeal with it. Zeal was a beautiful place. Lush and green   
with flowers of the brightest reds to the palest yellows. Rivers where cool and clear and the island it's self   
was always warm and perfect. If a child wanted to play in the snow, they'd simply use a land bridge to visit   
the snowy Earth Bounders' world.

I hated Zeal!

Everything was false to my eyes. Nothing was the truth. All because of the wonders of Lavos! It would be a   
name that I would grow to hate. I also hated Zeal because it shared the name of that woman who destroyed   
everything in her because of greed.

My mother.

Once known as Jean Salvac my mother was a beautiful mage that was married to King Xavier of Zeal and   
gave birth to Schala. Xavier soon died afterwards by the Earth Bounders hands' after proclaiming to them   
that they would be slaves for the great Kingdom of Zeal. My father wasn't any smarter than Xavier. His   
name was Zacharia De Land who was a duke in Zeal's Court. My sister told me he was a handsome man, a   
womanizer, proud, haughty, smart, and vain.

My mother fell completely in love with him.

She soon found out he was also cold, power hungry, and idiotic when she was pregnant with me. Jean found   
Zacharia in bed with his lover, an Earth Bounder. Suffice to say was that my father had one last good fling   
before my mother charged him with Adultery. Zacharia was sentence to death and was mangled at the   
Xathos River known as the river of the dead. When I was in her womb when she found about Lavos'   
power from records of her first husband and set to work on her new lover.

The Kingdom of Zeal.

Her mind was taken over slowly as she worked with the Gurus of Life, Reason and Time to make the   
Mammon Machine to simply catch Lavos' energy waves. During this her mind was slowly being ebbed away   
form saneness and into a wild burr on insanity. She soon would be known simply as Zeal.

And I times I wonder if Lavos effected me.

No.

He did not.

I am not a pawn like Zeal was.

After the death of her second husband she decided to pick a Chancellor to quench the queries of the   
Kingdom a month before I was born. His name was Dalton Figpen, a large man who always seemed to be   
drunk due his eternally red face and his stumbled walking which gave me the idea to christen as the Flop. I   
always was disgusted with this man, he wasn't worth my hatred but I will admit he was good with magic. He   
had the same insane ambitions as Zeal so for the first time she finally made the perfect choice for a co-ruler   
of Zeal. The Flop always was bothering with Schala. He had an idea in his mind that he'd get in favor of the   
queen and marry Schala so he could capture the throne. He was also given the Aeroplane called the   
Blackbird. The good thing is that Dalton hated me, so he never sucked up to me. We had explosives verbal   
fights that would sound every where in the gorgeous Zeal Castle.

But I'm getting ahead of things.

When I was too old to be fed my mother's breast I was given to the nanny and Schala's care. Nannies could   
not stand me and I knew most of them wouldn't of mind seeing me dead so Schala keep her eye on me as   
she struggled with Dalton's advances and her visits of mercy to the Earth Bounders with Melchior. At the   
age of 3, I tagged along and was more welcomed in the Earth Bounders world than in Zeal.

As we made our trips and grew up, Zeal ordered to make a pendent to control magical barriers that the   
Mammon Machine made. Zeal couldn't handle the power of the Dreamstone Pendent like Bethasar, Guru of   
Reason, expected her too. So for 2 years Zeal and Bethasar forgot the pendent and used the Lavos power   
built the Zeal Kingdom to the pinnacle of it's power.

Melchior was a grandfather to Schala but had no love for me but protected Schala and I form Zeal's wraith   
and anger. He helped the Earth Bounders with cooking, hunting and clothing and tried to teach them to use   
magic. Few could use low caliber magic. He also taught them to resist slavery until Zeal heard about this   
and placed him over Terra Cave on the Floating Mountain to mock the Earth Bounders. Again, I'm getting   
ahead of myself. I tend to do that at times. Melchior would also take Schala and I on outings such as fishing   
or picnics. I remember a few conversations about me when they though I was asleep.

"Janus looks so peaceful." My sister's soft voice said.

"The boy has great power. Such a shame to keep it all locked within himself." Melchior voice answered.

"He doesn't like magic. Janus thinks it's a waste of time. He gets cold all the time when I do. He calls it   
'The Black Wind'."

"Hmm, very strange. Perhaps because of your blood you both can feel this 'Black Wind'."

I found out that as a child that it is best to keep quiet and listen. If you stay quiet you disappear and people   
would forget someone was listening and tell secrets. I heard much this way. When I met Vinegar I used this   
secret to my advantage until I could stand on my own. When I was 5, I noticed that Schala was more sullen   
and quiet. I also noticed the beautiful Dream Stone pendent the new doors and crests that seemed to appear   
almost over night. I became more angry and dark and fought more often with Dalton because my sister was   
turning sicker and weaker. I also gave people my lip when I visited other cities. My cat Alfador never left   
me, he would watch me when Melchior or Schala couldn't. I like animals. They're one of the few things I do   
like and they like me too. If anything is really innocent or the true chosen ones of the gods then it must be   
animals. Animals do not judge the living and treat all humans like friends unless threatened. Cats and dogs   
seem to have that quality the strongest among beasts. A monster like me could go up to a small kitten that   
would show no spite or anger. Killers, criminals, mad men, mentally ill and the handicapped are hated by   
humans yet animals gave them nothing but love and understanding. We humans are the ones who keep   
killing for no reason. War is a synthetic creation of man's wisdom. Alfador and I watched as Zeal grew more   
insane and Zeal Kingdom grew more powerful. Schala was pulled in to the dark web of power lust before   
my eyes. Thankfully Lavos didn't touch her mind, perhaps the pest knew Schala was the true hand that fed   
him. I have no idea what torture Zeal put my sister though but I am sure it wasn't good. I could feel my   
sister's pain all the time, even while deep asleep in the darkest of dreams. For a year and half we suffered in   
this state, our life was going down quickly, it became worst when he appeared.

The Wandering Prophet. 

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	2. The Nightmare

Chapter 2: The Nightmares

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Now I lay me down to sleep 

Pray the lord my soul to keep 

If I die before I wake 

Pray the lord my soul to take 

The Lord's Prayer 

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He came out of no where. A tall, broad shouldered man who was always cloaked in black and had a refusal to speak to   
any one for the longest time. I had seen him once or twice and I do remember talking to him once. I learned to hate that   
man more than I do with Dalton. He was too cold, too inhuman to break his nerves.

___________________________________ 

"Hey!"

The tall figure ignored Janus' cries as he wandered away form the small child. The boy frowned and pressed his pail lips   
together. This man was unsettling, it was like he knew him in a way. But he never even heard the sound of that man's   
voice. Something scared him from deep within when he ever looked at that man and that fear compelled him to follow   
him to the city of Kajar. All he had heard about that man was from Dalton and Schala. All Dalton did was bemoan about   
being replaced and normally Janus wouldn't of minded the idea that Dalton would be kicked out of the castle and out of   
his hair forever. However Schala talked about him in hushed, frightened tones, Janus knew something about this man was   
different...

**_Kajar..._**   
  
Janus didn't like the city very much. It was all too hypocritical to him; the people rushing about and questioning about   
where magic came from disgusted him because he knew he knew they didn't give a damn where magic came from. As   
long as they had the power what mattered? Who gave a damn? Janus did. He would never admit it to anyone alive that he   
cared. Where did the power came form and why he couldn't use the power himself? Or perhaps it was just something he   
wondered about.

As he turned into an empty corner he saw him and the ideas of magic vanished as a small terror was stuck in his belly.   
The man in dark robes walked down the halls right towards him! The child in lavender swallowed downs whatever fear   
he had in his voice and stepped in front of him. "Where the hell are you from?" He cried in his most terrible and deep   
voice. Of course the boy who just turned seven didn't get the desired effect. The man answered with silence. A slight   
quiver of the shimmering dark robes suggested a faint, non-verbal chuckling.   
  
"Come on! Don't tell me your mute!" He snapped.

The man turned slowly. "Go away." His voice was clam, powerful, dark, and perhaps... overwhelming sadness?

"No! Why are you hanging around here any way?"

"What business do you have to question where I go?"

Janus scowled. "I don't want you near my sister!"

"I go where I please Prince Janus-"

"Hey! How do you know my name? How did you know I was prince?"

"I have my ways-" He answered. Then with one smooth motion he picked up the child at the collar and raised the boy to   
his dark red eyes, his white face matched his voice perfectly and he reminded the boy of someone. He didn't have time to   
think about it as the man went on. "Do not question them boy. Mess with me again I swear to your non existent gods I   
shall rip you in half."

"Go ahead." Janus dared. He had no fear of death. He didn't welcome the reaper yet if it was his time, it was his time.

"Perhaps I shouldn't rip you in half. After all, seeing you suffer is the pleasure! No, simply killing you is no fun. Perhaps if   
I kill Schala..."

"No!" Janus screamed. "Please no!"

"Then keep far away from me boy..." The voice was like a snake. "Never come near me. And Schala will live."

He dropped the boy roughly and left him in the darkness... 

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When the Prophet came, Melchior had vanished. Belthasar and Gasper had escaped to an island before Zeal could get her   
hands on them. Strange how all of them where Gurus and all where so different. Gasper certainly didn't act like one when   
I spoke to him. He was quiet and didn't like to talk and loved to sleep. I rarely spoke to him. I only saw Belthasar twice.   
He was too busy working on his inventions to speak to anyone. The old man rushed about here and there not knowing   
until it was too late that he was working on projects what would spell doom to his world. Melchior was the   
compassionate one. It wasn't until I grew older before I understood Melchior's title. He worried about the people and   
their problems and became the Earth Bounders' savior. He worried about them more than with himself when he was on   
Woe Mountain. It strange how some people can think about others and forget themselves in times of need.

What I cannot understand is why people who have been lustful, greedy and selfish all their lives are called 'Heroes' when   
suddenly they do something good for once in their lives. However, when a truly good person who has given to the poor   
and worked all there life for once, they chicken out. Then they are called cowards while the weak are cerebrated as   
heroes.

I became more lost and alone when Melchior was captured and Schala grew weak and thin. She lost weight and her ivory   
skin turned even whiter and sickly. It was almost as pail as my skin, not quite as pail but close. I began to hate my mother   
and Zeal Kingdom. I knew Zeal would fall very soon. It was a feeling buried deep inside of me.

But never in my life had I expected Zeal to fall so literally. 

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It was about six months after the Prophet came when I was seven. I was wandering around Enasha when I meet a boy, a   
girl, and a frog. The boy was normal sized with wild red hair and a lean but muscular built. The girl had golden hair and   
light green eyes and a crossbow was slung on her back. The frog didn't scarce me even if he did carry a sword.. After all,   
with creatures like Doreen and her brothers Masa and Mune, a race of creatures who where come times called Children of   
the Dream Stones, ran around Zeal all the time. The Dream Stone Children had long lives but few children and   
reproduction wasn't the Dream Stone Children's main worry. The Frog was nothing compared to them.

Doreen liked dreams more than her brothers Masa and Mune. For a while I didn't blame her and now I think how foolish   
she was. Doreen escaped form the painful world she was into her Dream World in Enasha. During the last months of   
Zeal I wanted to go with her into that world. Now I knew it was the best for me to stay in the world of pain and become   
strong form it. The weak only submit to dreams that cannot come true.

I glared at the boy, then the girl, then the frog. I felt the cold wind that shivered up my spine and then looked solemnly at   
the boy.

He would die.

Shortly.

"The black wind howls..." I muttered to myself more than to the people and walked down the stairs. "One of you shall   
shortly die."

It was a fair warning. I walked always form them and cries of protest towards Castle Zeal. In the castle, there was a rush   
about Zeal going to the Ocean Palace. I was extremely worried about Schala. I ran towards her room, scared Zeal took   
her, Schala was gone. "Schala?" I wailed out. I heard her voice answer form my room.

I took off running towards my room and saw Schala waiting for me. Her face sad and white, her green eyes shinning with   
hope as always. "There you are Janus."

"Schala, I am scared. I feel the black wind."

"You feel it too?"

I nodded. Her face frowned and she reached in her pocket and pulled out an amulet, a black stone encrusted in sliver. It   
was very beautiful to me. I could sense strong magic coming form it.

Like an idiot I asked, "What is this?"

My sister smiled and put the amulet around my neck. "Good luck charm. It will protect you. Janus," She paused for a   
moment. "I wish I could stay here and protect you. But mother has other plans..." I noticed her eyes where batting away   
tears as I heard the whimper in her voice. She knew our mother better than I. Perhaps I am jealous of her. She knew Zeal   
as a mother, the most important person in your life. The warm and loving Mother Schala and the Zeal I knew were not   
the same. The Zeal I knew was a cold-hearted bitch, who strove for power, forgetting her daughter and son and perhaps   
life It's self. So I answered my sister. "She isn't our mother, she looks like our mother but she changed."   
"Janus-"

"Miss Schala! Miss Schala!"

A servant broke up our moment. As she left I looked at the amulet and fell asleep until Schala woke me up. I had a   
dream. It was a young woman walking in the grass. I never had seen this woman before and yet I knew her. A snake came   
up to her and looked at her with innocent black eyes and asked for her to carry it. The woman agreed and she picked the   
snake up knowing its nature. After a while the woman felt comfortable with the snake in her purse, then it bit her. It was   
venomous and the young woman died. An old story. The woman was The Kingdom of Zeal, the snake was Lavos'   
power. I had just seen the fall of Zeal. My first step into my world of darkness...

Then Schala awakened me and told about the strangers who had come to Zeal Kingdom. She also told about Dalton's   
failed attempt to capture them and so Queen Zeal had captured these people and placed them in the dungeon of Zeal   
Castle. Gentle Schala wanted to save the strangers. At this time they had no cause so why bother in saving them? Yet   
Schala wanted to help them so I agreed to help my sister. I was worried Zeal would find out and hurt Schala.

Zeal seemed to forget about her little son, Janus.

Schala had brought the strangers (who happened to be the boy with wild hair, the blond girl, and the frog) form the   
magical barrier to the floor when the Prophet came in. The man was cold as always, yet I notice how much softened to   
Schala and I when we begged him form killing the strangers. I swore I heard something break down within him. He made   
the strangers to take him where they came form. By then I had lost interest and went to my room. Only hours later,   
Schala and I decided to visit the Earth Bounders again. We had heard that the strangers had come. We got this news from   
a new batch of slaves. Again, we headed towards the hellhole called Terra Cave. We found Melchior and the strangers   
who had saved the old man.

I was disgusted how the cave had become. Terra Cave was bad but now it had be come cold, dark and damp. Schala   
talked to Melchior, the boy with wild hair was called Crono and the girl with the blond hair in a ponytail was named   
Marle and a young woman with huge glasses was known as Lucca that hid bright blue eyes and a helmet that hid soft   
wisps of purple hair.. I wondered where the frog was.

For a while I listened when the flop came, Dalton. I attacked him, I wasn't much and he easily knocked me back with one   
signal swipe of his hand. The Elder of the Earth Bounders and Melchior tended my wounds as the strangers rested up   
form the Mountain of Woe rescue. I was sore but anger was stronger and I slipped out during the night. At the castle I   
though, "Why would Zeal keep her lovely castle and Lavos unguarded?"

I, until then, never used anyone in my life. That era of my life was over, from that moment on I would use people for my   
goals easier for myself. I knew the strangers would follow Dalton so I waited for them and followed then into the Ocean   
place. It was filled with odd creatures and such. A weak child that knew no magic had no chance of fighting the Scouts or   
the mages. I though I was in the clear until just before the reached Mammon Machine room when I felt a hand on my   
shoulder. I quickly spun around to see Melchior and two other men, Gasper and Belthasar, behind him. "What are you   
doing here?" I snapped.

"I'd ask you the same thing, boy."

"To save Schala you twit! God! *Your* a Guru? Damn, are you stupid!"

"You are too young to go here!"

"If I cared about that wouldn't be here, would I? Look, save the nagging after we get Schala."

A huge flash of light projected form the Mammon room and the Gurus rushed off leaving me. Again I was almost   
forgotten, I rushed forward, following the Gurus into the Mammon room and gasped. Zeal was standing and laughing   
telling how cowardly the Gurus were and began talking about the glory of Lavos. I didn't have time to catch on as I   
looked at my poor beautiful sister whose face was twisted in pain and tears ran down my sister's checks. Her green eyes   
looked at Zeal, begging her mother to stop.

Her mother was dead.

Zeal was in her place.

I watched my sister and cried, "Schala!"

She looked up and called back to me as I felt a great force under me. I glanced down and instead of seeing a smooth floor   
I saw a portal, black as night, gaping under me. I began to fall and I screamed out for Schala one more time as I fell. And I   
felt the Black Wind coming from the monster and taking me into the darkness.

Janus died then.

Magus was born when I woke up. 

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	3. The Awakening

Chapter Three:

The Awakening

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When life seems to be lost   
And death comes to my door   
I vanish into a dream   
Into a place so cold, yet warm   
Within my flesh   
A thorn is molesting my sleep   
It's teasing me...   
Am I human after all?   
Sentenced, "Beyond The Wall Of Sleep" 

___________________________________ When I woke up from the abyss of the unconsciousness I was under a canopy of green leaves with the golden sun and   
blue skies peeking between the leaves. I presumed before opening my eyes I would see a high black marble ceiling with   
wires intertwining up the walls that gave the Ocean Palace a faint, unsettling, golden-red light. Perhaps the hell I went   
though was over and I had died or perhaps I would awaken from a dream that never existed? I reached my hand out to   
touch Schala's hand or touch Alfdor's soft fur. Instead I felt my hand graze against a check that had a raw, leathery feel to   
it and a squeal of protest echoed in my ears.

My eyes snapped open to see the a small yellowish green… thing, one of the oddest creatures I ever saw in my life yet it   
reminded me of the little creatures that scampered near the Terra Caves. I would later find out it was a called an Imp,   
which was one of the weakest sub species of a race known as the Mystics. I wasn't horrified but just surprised, which was   
an emotion that could be easily mistaken for fear. For a moment we stared at each other with unblinking eyes before a   
shriek that made me shout and scramble away from the plot of grass I was laying on. My gaze quickly darted to where I   
heard the scream. Another creature stood just slightly behind the Imp. I'm still not sure what the creature was to this day,   
even living near that thing for a large part of my life. The creature was squat, with slimy green looking sink that would   
remind one of a lizard, beady eyes, and small but pointy cat-like ears. He was hardly scary looking comparison to what   
I've seen; he was just ridiculous looking. I slowly sat up and blinked out the rest of the uncertain feeling in my eyes for I   
wasn't aware what exactly had happened.   
The obese creature looked at me critically when he saw my face, his scaly face twisting into something even more   
hideous than half the monsters I ran away from in the Ocean Palace. "What the hell are you?"

I just simply glared at him.

"What's the matter kid? Cat got your tongue?" He chucked, placing his short arms on his fat hips, glaring 'down' at me. I   
took to notice he could float about a foot in the air despite his massive weight.

"You can fly?" I was stunned that a low class creature could float before I could!

" 'Course I can kid! Haven you seen a mystic before?"

I never did until that moment but during that moment I didn't care. I wanted to know how he could fly. "How can you   
fly?" I demanded with a loud tone irritation in my voice, slowly standing up so that I was a few inches under him. I wasn't   
ready to accept the fact what just happened to me nor did I want to know.

"I'm a Mystic kid, what I tell you? So what are you?"

"What do you mean by that? And you didn't answer my question!"

The creature snorted, waving his plump hand in the air slightly as if fanning the question away as if it where a bug.   
"What's your race? Never seen a freaking human with ears as pointy as an elf's but I haven't seen an elf with blue hair and   
brown eyes. Elves don't have brown eyes kid, it ain't natural, same with your hair!"

"What's wrong with my ears and hair? I at the least I have some!"

"Nothin' kid, normal Mystics elves don't have blue hair, that's all. Maybe you're half daemon and elf or something. I've   
seen more fucked up things than you." The creature put one pudgy hand under the many chins and looked me over. After   
a few moment his eyes widened with surprise and shock. "Damn, you got potential kid! If you don't got Demon blood in   
you I'd swear you're one of those Magic people way back when." Again he waved off his hand, indicating how long that   
time was.

"Magic people?" I asked, a cold sense of terror washed over me.

"Kid, what the hell is the matter with you? It's like you dropped out of the sky. Don't you know any Zeal myths?"

"Zeal?" I croaked out.

"Yeah, city that fell about 10,000 thousand years ago, the Mystics' ancestors, kid."   
What it seemed like for hours, my thoughts churned in my head as I realized what he meant, Zeal had been in the past   
and I was no where near home. I tried to hold back horror from my mind but it was in vain. Did Zeal have the power to   
throw me into the future? I decided no. It was that monster, the very same monster that churned the Black Wind my   
sister and I dreaded.

"You alive?"

It was only a moment to the creature what felt like hours to me. My gaze looked up at him. "I don't remember   
anything…" I whispered. I wished it could be that way, in truth I didn't want to remember anything but had enough sense   
or luck that it slipped out that way. I suppose it was the shock that made me agree with almost everything the creature   
said.

"Don't remember a thing?" He scratched his chin with a slight smirk. It was simply obvious what he planned to use my   
untapped power for his own gain. He had no love for me nor the other two children I would meet expect he adored our   
potential. I saw the marks of being used early in my life and I played the part of a subverting child or slave. I mutely   
shook my head, as the creatures' question. "No folks? Anything?"

I was in slight shock but I had enough to sense to give him look of extreme irritation at his stupid questions. If I didn't   
remember a thing how would I remember my parents? However I mumbled out. "My name is Janus."

"Well, you have to have some sort of mystic blood in you. No human would name a kid after some old Zealian name,   
right?" He concluded. "More than likely you're some slave kid. I'm Vinegar, one of the Highest Ranking Mystics around   
here." In his own way, he wasn't exactly lying. He was the highest officer of the small band of mystics who scouting   
mission was in the Guardia area. At Medina he wasn't well liked and was considered a failure and disappointment. To   
make a long and rather boring discussion short Vinegar had put himself beyond the call of duty to take me home and raise   
me like a son. To say I was thrilled with the idea was a bit beyond doubt. In what would be later declared as his fort is   
where he lived and trained two other children he taken under his wing.

The eldest of Vinegar's bunch was Soysor, a tall lanky creature of a dark plum hue who was one of the rare pure breeds of   
daemon; he looked more like a reptile than Vinegar did. Soysor would remind one of a snake, he could make a common   
person squirm with his presence and demeanor even as a young teen. Clearly he was one of Vinegar's largest hope at the   
time I came and sometime afterwards. Soysor was at the least 5 years older than I was and despite his youth he had great   
skill with a sword. However he certainly didn't have the same maturity in his personality compared to his skills with a   
sword, he also had an ego to match his immaturity. His mouth curled into a snarl as he saw me trailing behind Vinegar   
and his squad. At the moment he had paused from battling one of his friends to turn to Vinegar. "What did you drag   
home this time?" He asked. "How many damn slaves to the house you're gonna need?"

"I'm not a slave!" I snarled right back, moving up to him, prepared to give them a piece of my mind. Vinegar snatched me   
up by the collar, holding me a few inches in the air. "Keep your trap shut kid," He snarled at me before turning to Soysor.   
"The kid's name here is Janus he's got potential. I think he's a half-daemon."

The taller boy glared down at me with narrow reptilian eyes. "He's short, scrawny, and pale. Are you sure he's not sick?"

"I'm not sick!" I snarled trying to wiggle my way out of Vinegar's grasp but he held tightly to the collar of my shirt.

The taller boy laughed. "He's got spark though!"

"And he's got potential for magic. I figure that when he gets old enough I'll start training him to open his channel his   
power."

"Humph, if he doesn't die before then. I've never seen a halfling look so damn pale!" He shrugged before turning away as   
Vinegar dragged me away from the practice area some distance away from the trainee swordsman and dropped me   
roughly. I let out a cry of protest and scrambled to my feet before I was smacked back on the ground again. I was   
surprised he would hit me. I knew fully well that no one would see me as a prince yet I hardly expected to be knocked flat   
on the ground.

"You better thank me for that one!" The creature snarled. "I don't want my prime pupil marred and I don't want you to   
get killed before you had a chance to cast anything. Wherever the hell you came from boy, you better forget how you   
where treated. Until you can float you watch what you say and do to me! And if you value your life you better learn how   
to fight with a sword before you back talk Soysor! He doesn't take shit from a scrawny mage who can cast spells and   
float."   
  
"You said that earlier… so how do I learn how to float?" I rolled my eyes as he quickly grabbed my face and glared down   
at me.

"Don't give me that look! Your learn by books son, by books or examples." My gaze locked angrily on Soysor's back,   
seeing he couldn't float yet. Vinegar caught my gaze. "He's young even if he's deadly. Most kids can't cast any spells and   
Soysor ain't a magic user. Once he figures out how to float he'll be just fine when it comes with magic. That's where you   
come in kid, this little force needs a magic user. I want you to do is study your ass off with magic and train like hell for a   
few years. With a warrior like Soysor and a wizard like you to present to the console in a few years, we'll knock 'em   
dead!"

"I hate magic." I answered, glaring up at him.

As a reward I was smacked again to the ground, he didn't look like much but he was strong, or at the least, strong to a   
little a little boy of seven. "You're going to learn how to use magic you damnable brat!" Vinegar dragged me up roughly   
again and marched towards a small mansion like house that his once proud ancestors lived in into the foyer room. "Where   
is she?"   
"She?" I asked quietly, waiting to be hit again.

"Mayonee, anther hopeful little runt. She's got potential in defensive magic; most elves do, but not in offensive magic. I   
guess it's some fucking rule in nature." He scowled. "MAYONEE! WHERE ARE YOU!?"

I flinched as his rough voice echoed in the foyer and down the halls and quickly bit my tongue to keep my mouth shut. I   
was too tempted to make a smart comment but at the particular moment I didn't want be slapped again. Falling to the   
ground is just fine but getting knocked to the hard floor that looked rather unsanitary for my tastes is another question. I   
then heard someone scamper into the room down the stairs, stopping in front of Vinegar. She was perhaps 5 years old   
with a smaller frame than I did with dark red hair and deep violet eyes. "Yes?" She asked sweetly. For a moment I   
wondered if she was suffering from a cold. Her ears where sharper than mine but they were not quite as long.

"We got a new one here." Vinegar said, pointing to me. "Just show him to a room and the library. Starting tomorrow he's   
gonna help your slow ass with some of the chores until noon, then he'll study."

"Yes." The girl answered quickly, glaring at me. I inwardly sighed to myself at the intense joy of meeting another of my   
eager young peers. Vinegar nodded quickly and turned to me.

"Listen to her and follow her example. She's a kid but she learns quickly on what to do around here. She'll give you the   
run down of chores." He quickly took his leave; his excuse was to report back to the High Counsel. I glanced back at the   
girl as Vinegar left the room. I let out a smirk when the door closed with echoing boom.

"Is that all he's taught you to say? Or is that he can get though in that skull of yours?"

Mayonee glared right back at me. "Of course I know how to say other things! He doesn't get as mad when I don't ask   
questions." Her eyes narrowed, looking at my check and walking over towards me. I took a step back and she put her   
small hands on her hips, stomping her foot, perfectly mocking many of my nannies when they became upset. "It's not like   
I'm not going to hit you like Mr. Sauce Boy or the Boss, I wanna see if you're hurt." I frowned as she glanced at my check   
once again. "It's bruised."

"Really." I muttered not realizing she was currently the nicest person I've met in this… era.

"Really." The voice slightly sounded a touch deeper than it was a moment ago. "So what are you? Are you an elf like   
me?"

"No… I don't remember."

Her eyes widened at my reply. "You mean you don't know your Mommy and Daddy? Soysor claims his parents sent him   
to the Boss to train because his dad and the Boss are friends. I don't remember my Daddy and my Mommy had to give me   
to the Boss…"

I frowned again, looking at a wall. "I have memories though about my mom and my sister..."

"Oh really!?" She asked excitedly.

"Yeah…" Something was digging at my mind. "You got a cold or something?"

Mayonee frowned, titling her head to the side. "No, why?"

"You just sound funny."

"Oh…" At that comment she turned away slightly, closing her eyes as if she was thinking, her fists clenched together   
then slowly unclenched and her bright eyes opened. "Will you pinky swear if I tell you something? I don't want Soysor or   
the Boss to know." Her small hand held out an hooked pinky with it's nails polished red. I have no idea where she   
painted them and was a bit surprised it was available in such a time period. It was then I that noticed how primitive this   
New World was.

"It's not like I'll ever talk to them." I sighed, I never did like childish displays but Mayonee looked too hopeful and a bit   
eager for me to break her heart. "Fine."

My longer, thinner finger hooked with hers and a bright look crossed over her face. "Great! Mommy told me to never tell   
any of them because the Boss wouldn't have taken me in but…" Her voice dropped. "I'm really a guy."

My eyes widened as I looked back at… him. "But you look like a girl!"

Mayonee nodded. "Mommy said 'Vinegar wouldn't take you in even if you could cast powerful wall spells if you're a boy.   
He wants a little girl to grow into a young woman in life. For your sake you must act like a girl and be a girl.' " He hung   
his head, some of the red hair falling in his eyes. "I don't know what she means by that but I'm gonna listen to her for   
now. Will you still be my friend?"

A friend, I never really had a friend besides Alfador and Schala. I thought the idea of this boy posing as a girl was an odd   
at the time but in the future I saw Mayonee's mother's wisdom. After seeing and living with Vinegar I knew he was a   
pervert. He would easily take a cute little girl elf over a young boy, in a matter of years she would blossom into a young   
woman who'd adore him and be eager to fulfill any desire for him. It was a full proof plan in his mind expect the cute elf   
was a boy and besides that point, he was disgusting and cruel to this "girl". It was beyond my logic to see how that plan   
would work.

I glanced at the stairs behind the boy quietly then to his eager looking face and sighed. "Sure." I said dryly, then nearly   
being knocked over by a bear hug.

"Thank you!"   
___________________________________

Authors Notes:   
_Yeah, hints of shouen-ai. Screw Crono folks! Mayonee/Flea seemed more in love with Janus. Say what you will, he's a guy. >_ But I just don't know what's going to happen with this questionable relationship. I am not promising to shouni ai lovers that something is going to happen nor am I promising more homophobic folks that nothing is going to happen. I originally planned out to be a quick jump from Janus going to 600AD straight to the War is turning out to be much longer than planned and therefore it's gonna take longer to write. Much longer, in fact what I have so far has already taken over 4 years to write. I figure I'd rather have a long fan-fic that's well done than one I could write up quickly._   
  
  



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